Friday, March 27, 2015

I often heard this in books and
thought of this as a fairy-tale; something that never happens as far as reality
is concerned. I do not even know if it is for true or I am just trying to join
every random piece together. But since this was an experience which took me by
surprise and actually made me think, I expect I should pen it down. So I joined
this start up as an intern which is working for a social cause, “making and
selling paper bags out of recycled newspapers”. And one of the tasks which we
had to do here was to conduct a consumer awareness event. We started off today
at MG Road, one of the busiest and most reputed market of Pune. We had to begin
by replacing the plastic bags of people with our paper bags. I along with one
of my friend started off on the streets of MG Road with great enthusiasm and
out first customer happened to be this woman. She was dresses in a Kurta and
had her face hidden with her duppatta, a dark green shade. We asked her if she
had a minute and she stopped by to listen to us, she removed her scarf and she
looked like a women in the age group of 40’s. She was smiling at us and her
face looked so serene. I started talking to her about our mission, how this is
an eco-friendly initiative and how plastics need to be replaced. She was
listening with full devotion and she seemed so impressed. She talked about how
it is a necessity and how she knows of people who use these types of bags.
Before I could ask her, she asked me to pen down my contact. Usually the bags
we carry have the contact of the founder of the firm so I diligently pointed
her to it to suggest that it is already there. However, she insisted on me
writing my contact and so I did it, right on that paper bag. Before this, we
never used to ask the name of the people we meet. Since it was just an
awareness initiative we never thought there was a need. But something just
prompted me to ask her name and her reply took both of us by surprise. She was
smiling and she said, “You can easily guess, I am present everywhere”. I and my
friend initially thought she was joking and so we started smiling too. On
prompting again for her name we got the same reply. We were surprised as
normally people do not reply in such a manner. However, her way of speaking,
patience and her smile was so genuine that it actually prompted us to think. But
at last we gave up. She then said ok take down my number and again told me
guess my name. I couldn't and then while I was penning her phone number down
and wrote Ms. …. She said “Faith”. I looked up at her just to confirm that I
heard right and she reconfirmed “Yes, I am Faith”. We both (me and my friend)
looked at each other a bit surprised, she then said bye to us and took off.

I couldn't let go of the feeling
which I had while she said, “I am Faith”. I did not know why I met her today. I
do not even know if she was someone’s mascot. All I know was that the meeting
of this woman at this point of my life was far from being just a coincidence.
Recently and even today I am going through probably the worst phase of my life.
It is as if everything has fallen apart. I know that for each one of us our own
problems seem to be the biggest. However, as far as I am concerned never before
had I felt so helpless and broken. I had lost all faith. Yes, it’s true, for
the first time I had lost all faith in him. However, today when I met this
woman I felt as if someone was trying to tell me to hold on, have faith, not
everything is lost. It was like
something told me there is still hope and you need to fight and stick on.
Someone might think it is a piece of my imagination. Yes it could be and I don’t
deny that. But, this experience just made me realize once again that bad days
eventually pass. All we need to do is to have Faith that something brighter is
in store. I don’t know why I met her today but I am glad that I did. I do not
want to confirm her identity or investigate on it. All I know was that she came
to me as a mascot and at a very right time of my life. This doesn't happen with
everyone and people who read this also might think of me as someone too
childish. However, what I felt was something indescribable, it is something
which only I could sense. Through this piece I do not want you to believe in my
story or fairy-tale, as some might term it. All I want is to convey the message
that “Have Faith and hold on”.